Joyful Mysteries

God Always Provides a Path to Heaven

CHOOSING A PATH

Certain video games are designed so that certain outcomes are no longer possible based on the actions you take. This is particularly true for role playing games (RPGs) where you make choices on how to customize your character and missions. I remember playing Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and I could choose whether to make my character lean towards the dark side or light side of the Force. But I had to choose carefully because the game’s plot would change based on my decisions.

Like an RPG, I think we often feel like our life decisions close and open various possibilities. That’s true to a certain extent. Buying a house, choosing a career, and getting married certainly put us on a certain track. But what about happiness? What about fulfillment? Sometimes, we feel like obtaining true happiness and peace is forever out of our reach due to our choices and circumstances.

We too often believe that our choices can make achieving happiness impossible. Maybe we have some self-destructive vices and addictions. We think we are too far down the road of self-destruction that we are forever cut off from joy and peace. Perhaps we’ve done some terrible things and think that not even God can bring us back. We are like Darth Vader in Star Wars believing it’s too late to turn from our dark ways.

THERE’S ALWAYS A PATH TO HAPPINESS

The great thing about our Catholic faith is that, unlike an RPG, there is always a path to peace and happiness. God never completely closes the road to grace and eventually Heaven. There are so many unhappy souls out there that don’t understand they can always come back into God’s grace as if they never left. Sure, the path back may be harder and longer for some. After all, some of us have more damage to repair. But the victory will be the same for all of us once in Heaven no matter the paths we took to get there.

Saint Bartolo Longo‘s story shows us that everyone can return to God’s loving grace no matter how far they fall. Born in 1841 in southern Italy, he was raised in a devout Catholic family. However, after his mother’s death when he was ten, he began to drift away from his faith.

While studying law at the University of Naples, Longo became involved in the occult and eventually became a Satanic priest! His involvement in Satanism led him to a state of deep depression, anxiety, and paranoia. Concerned for his well-being, his family sought help from a devout Catholic professor, Vincenzo Pepe.

Pepe introduced Longo to a Dominican priest, Father Alberto Radente, who guided him back to the Catholic faith. Longo’s conversion was marked by his devotion to the Rosary, and he eventually became a third-order Dominican. He dedicated his life to promoting the Rosary and restoring the faith of the people in Pompeii. Longo’s journey from Satanism to sainthood is a powerful testament to the transformative power of faith and redemption.

THE LONG ROAD TO HAPPINESS

If Saint Bartolo Longo could travel from Satanic priest to saint, surely God has a way for any of us to find true happiness. I like to turn to the Fifth Joyful Mystery when thinking about our faith journey. Mary and Joseph searched for Jesus for three sorrowful days before finding him. We too, sometimes need to search in sorrow before finding Jesus in our lives. We may take all sorts of wrong turns, but if we have faith in God’s plan, even those wrong turns will ultimately bring us victory in God’s Heavenly Kingdom.

Since I’m listening to the Bible in a Year, I’m hearing stories from the Old Testament of how God never abandoned the Israelites no matter how far they strayed. He always left a path open for them. It wasn’t always a clear path and certainly not an easy one. They experienced trials and tribulations at the hands of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. God used these terrible pagan rulers like Nebuchadnezzar to ultimately redeem humanity through His son Jesus. Salvation certainly wasn’t an easy road starting from Adam and Eve’s disobedience and culminating with Jesus’ resurrection.

We need to remember that while the road can be a long and difficult one, God never closes it completely. The people who end up in Hell are the ones who stop or turn back. They know the road eventually leads to true happiness but don’t choose to go down it. When we pray the Rosary, two things happen. The road towards God’s Kingdom becomes a little easier with the help of Mary and the Heavenly court. And we can better see glimpses of that final victory out on the horizon. If you ever feel stuck, please pick up that Rosary and take a step in the right direction.

How Expecting Perfection Leads to Unhappiness

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in the world today — the expectation of perfection. It is often seen in expecting perfection from others but is sometimes manifested in expecting perfection from oneself. I believe that that we too often forget that we are not perfect beings.

Constantly Finding Flaws

Complaining seems to be people’s default mode now. When I run into a friend, I greet them and ask how they’re doing, only to be barraged by their list of grievances. Here are some of the examples of what I come across on a daily basis.

In my youth soccer league, coaches complain about the competencies of referees. Keep in mind that most referees are volunteers just wanting to help out.
Also in soccer, parents are upset that there aren’t enough coaches or referees or that they don’t like how a particular coach manages their child’s team.
At a Mass, a new lector made a mistake regarding the readings. Despite people telling him it’s okay, he beats himself up over the error and pledges to never lector again.
At a school event, people complain about the way a particular event is being run or a particular policy. The lines were too long, they didn’t have enough supplies, they didn’t give enough notice, etc.

Striving for perfection and expecting perfection are two different things. I often try my very best in whatever I do. Likewise, I hope that other people are doing the same. But I need to also have an understanding that things won’t always go as intended. The desired outcome isn’t always achieved. We will always find things that disappoint us if that is all we focus on.

Modern Day Pharisees

I think back to the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. In the Gospels, they seem to always be expecting, even demanding, perfect adherence to Jewish laws. Those who did not live up to the 613 laws were cast out of certain circles or at least looked down upon. When you have so many laws, you’re most likely going to be in violation of a few of them at some point. When there’s the expectation perfection, you will always be disappointed because you will always be surrounded by imperfection.

We can act similar to the Pharisees. We cast heavy burdens on people because when we expect them to behave flawlessly according to our standards. They may be doing everything just fine — being kind and thoughtful, working hard, and doing their best. But so many times, we focus on their shortcomings — they’re lateness, unresponsiveness, lack of organization, etc. When the Pharisees saw Jesus, they only saw the Mosiac laws He broke, not the good He did. We too tend to get into modes where the people around us are nothing more than a collection of flaws.

Our Catholic faith is so great because God sees more than our faults. He knows we are imperfect and yet He loves us anyway. God gave us the Sacrament of Reconciliation knowing that we won’t always succeed at living according to His Will perfectly. It should be a comfort to us that God knows us so well that he knows we have our flaws and provides us a means to correct ourselves. Instead of God being disappointed in our imperfections like a Pharisee, He rejoices whenever we strive to follow Him.

Accepting Our Imperfections

We need to imitate God and also understand that no one is perfect. That means:

Not getting overly frustrated when things don’t go perfectly.
Not getting angry with people when they don’t live up to our expectations.
Looking for the good in people and not focusing on their flaws.
Not beating ourselves up when we fail to live up to our expectations.

When I think of our imperfections, I’m drawn to praying the Fifth Joyful Mystery. Mary and Joseph physically lost Jesus. Talk about failing as parents! But they just kept looking for Him for three days before finding Him. I think about how we have those moments when we lose Jesus. We often spiritually lose Jesus when we sin. We can either fall into despair because we aren’t living up to God’s high standards. Or we can imitate Mary and Joseph, turn around, and start searching for Jesus again in our lives.

Speaking of imperfection, sorry that my Rosary decade pages on my website are in bad shape. The slides extension I use for each “bead” isn’t working and is no longer available. I’m trying to find a replacement or redesign those pages to do something different. Stay tuned.

Shocking! Living Immorally Leads to a Decline in Morality

Statistics Don’t Lie

Let’s take a look at the results from a recent Gallop survey about morals in America. Overall, only 15% of those surveyed said American morals values are good to excellent. Now, I would really like to meet those who said that. How low are their expectations to think our society is excelling morally? 49% rated the state of American values as poor and 34% said “fair.” I probably side on the “fair” viewpoint.

Here’s where the survey gets interesting though. They broke it down into people’s view on specific moral and ethical topics. Here’s how those broke down:

54% responded that abortion is morally acceptable
55% said that death penalty is acceptable
53% said euthanasia is acceptable
69% have no problem with fornication (sex outside of marriage)
26% are okay with polygamy
14% think affairs are okay
94% are on board with artificial birth control
38% think pornography is okay
63% approve of embryonic stem cell research
82% are cool with in virtro fertilization
44% think you can change genders

I don’t think it takes a PhD in mathematics to see the connection between society’s views on individual issues and the overall sentiment of the US’ moral state. If such a large number of people have favorable opinions of immoral actions, is it any surprise that we have a dim view of the overall morality of the country? Statistically, there must be overlap in the people supporting these immoral actions who are also in that 83% believing that the overall state of morality is fair or poor.

Moral Truths and Selective Morality

To me, this actual affirms my belief in moral truths. You have so many people favoring immoral attitudes and yet they have an intuitive sense that something is wrong. Try as we might to rationalize certain immoral or unethical behaviors, we can’t escape that intrinsic sense that something is out of balance. This is like someone claiming the benefits of eating junk food all day long and then wondering why they are overweight. Deep down, we know that eating junk food is unhealthy. And we know, deep down, that many activities are immoral. We can’t support immoral actions and expect a high overall moral state of society.

I’m betting that people are selective with their immorality. Someone might claim, “it’s not my belief in gender fluidity that is leading to society’s moral decay. It’s those abortion advocates!” Or “I’m not hurting anyone with sex outside of marriage, it’s those pro death penalty people who are to blame!” We all like to think that we’re not part of the problem because we can always point to someone else who is worse in our minds.

This Isn’t New

The Old Testament is filled with accounts of the Israelites rejecting God and then suffering the consequences. They couldn’t see that breaking the Commandments lead to unhappiness and despair. Or they thought it was someone’s else’s rejection of God’s Truth leading to issues. Unfortunately, this just seems to be part of human nature going all the way back to our first parents, Adam and Eve. We can’t help ourselves from disobeying God and we refuse to learn from the consequences.

How the Rosary Develops Strong Moral Character

Where does the Rosary play into this moral mess? For starters, by praying the Rosary you are investing in learning God’s Will and for the strength to follow it. I think so much of today’s problems is caused by people doing what feels good or what those in power (politicians, media, celebrities, etc.) tell them they should do. But they don’t stop and ask what God demands of them. By praying the Rosary with utmost humility, you are seeking God’s truth.

Humility, the fruit of the First Joyful Mystery, combats the sin of pride. When we humbly pray the Rosary, we tell God that we may not always understand His ways. We may not even agree with His ways. But we know God’s ways are always good and we ask for His help through Mary and her Rosary for the strength to follow what is good. If more people sought divine guidance through prayer, our world would take a stronger moral character.

Loving God is an Obligation, Not Optional

The Thing about Volunteers

I volunteer for my local AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) chapter as the coach administrator. I’m already ramping up for the upcoming fall season. As usual, we have way more kids and teams than we have coach volunteers. That means we have to plead with people to coach a team. Thankfully, we can usually guilt trip enough people into coaching.

All AYSO coaches need to undergo training. They need to obtain a coach’s license, pass background checks, and take all sorts of training to ensure the children’s safety. I often get some pushback from those people we ask to volunteer late in the registration process. Their thinking goes, “you asked me to volunteer and now you’re pestering me about completing training? You should be grateful that I stepped in when no one else would. Now leave me alone to coach my team how I see fit.”

“I’m here aren’t I? What more do you want from a volunteer?”

I understand the frustration. After all, coaching any youth sport is a big commitment. And some people didn’t expect that commitment when they signed up their child to play. They were expecting to show up on Saturdays with their cup of coffee, chat with other parents, and cheer their child. Because they feel coerced into coaching, they think their certification process should be easier than the coaches that really wanted to volunteer.

The Thing about Catholics

I see something similar to the reluctant coach with how we often approach practicing our faith. We can feel like we are doing God a favor by going to Mass, a parish event, or even saying some prayers. Because we give God some of our precious time, He in turn shouldn’t bother us with difficult Church teachings on sin and Hell. We want the pastor to just tell us how Jesus loves us no matter what we do so we can go on acting however we like.

“I’m here, aren’t I? What more do you want God?”

Many people no longer see their faith as an important piece of their lives. Instead, faith is something optional like a gym membership. Your parish is something you can utilize as much or as little as you like. If it’s considered optional, there’s no commitment or challenge. When we encounter a teaching we disagree with, we pack up and take our business elsewhere. We love our parish and our faith when it confirms our ways. But when our faith requires change and even some sacrifice, we complain about how the Church isn’t “inclusive” and is being mean.

Pride and the Rosary’s Solution to it

We commit the sin of pride when we feel that God should change to conform to our worldview instead of us changing our worldview to confirm to His truth. Instead of us honoring God, we want God to honor us whenever we grace Him with our attention. Many times, we want God to give us a heavenly discount because we did something the Church instructs us to do. The age of participation trophies seems to have spread to how we interact with God.

Now, it’s okay to have doubts and questions about our faith. But we need to show the maturity to seek answers when we have doubts instead of dismissing God and His Church when He challenges us to live as the people He designed us to be. When we realize that our faith is an obligation, not optional, we’ll be more inclined to look for those answers.

When it comes to our obligation to practice our faith, we can meditate on the Second Joyful Mystery — The Visitation. The fruit of this mystery is love of neighbor. It’s a good mystery for breaking out of a self-centered worldview by acknowledging that we are connected to others. We are ultimately connected to God, our supreme neighbor if you will. We have an obligation to love and follow Him even when it’s difficult. That’s where Mary and the Rosary come in. When we meditate on the Rosary mysteries, we ask her for the strength to honor God by faithfully following Him.

How the Rosary Helps us Avoid Sloth

Previously, I wrote about the Daily Rosary Meditation Podcast and how it can improve your rosary prayer. I even have a link to it on RosaryMeds. I recently listened to this great episode on examining your conscience for the seven deadly sins. I especially liked the meditation on sloth. Let’s explore sloth deeper and how the Rosary can combat it.

Boredom with Spiritual Life

Sloth is a sorrow or boredom with the spiritual life. It’s being bored with the things of God which results in a spiritual apathy or complacency. This is when you don’t like spiritual things like prayer, rooting out vice and practicing virtue and talking about God and ultimate things like heaven – basically of everything that matters most. And it results in the effort escape the invitation to become god-like through busyness, workaholism, entertainment, news, sports, drunkenness, drug use, pornography, or sex.
Dr. Mike Scherschligt, Daily Rosary Meditation Podcast

I’ve never thought of sloth in this way — boredom with spiritual life. By that measure, I’ve certainly been guilty of sloth. How many times have I reached for my phone to watch mind-rotting videos instead of reaching for my rosary or litany of the hours? Or how many times have I consumed those cookies, candies, or spirits on days when I told myself I was fasting? Yeah, I’m guilty of trying to escape God’s call to spiritual greatness via earthly delights.

The middle panel of Hieronymus Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights”

How Sloth is Killing Us

Our society hinges around us embracing sloth. We spend all day working to afford the latest gadget that consumes the rest of our waking hours. We spend tons of money on streaming services, concerts, and sports. Even our hobbies, as good as they are, often provide an escape from living the more challenging, but fulfilling, spiritual lifestyle.

Sloth is killing parishes around the world. I’ve heard so many people say they no longer attend Mass because the priest’s homilies are boring and the Mass is so long and repetitive. Going back to Dr. Scherschligt’s definition, sloth starts with boredom. We, the Catholic faithful, haven’t been showing our slothful brothers and sisters the importance of the Mass and how it’s focused around Christ, not the priest or the music. If we only understood the importance of spiritual life, we would kick sloth to the curb.

How to Combat Sloth through the Rosary

To combat sloth, focus on the Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary — The Presentation. Think about Simeon and Anna, two people who spent their days at the temple in prayer. They were hardly slothful. They did not get bored pursuing a spiritual life and doing what God asked of them. Ultimately, they both met God face-to-face in the baby Jesus. They received in their earthly lives what we hope to receive after we die — union with God.

I also meditate on the Fifth Joyful Mystery when I think about combatting sloth. I recall Joseph and Mary searching for Jesus in Jerusalem. Did Mary and Joseph get bored with their search? Of course not. They had to continue because they understood the importance of finding their lost son. We shouldn’t get distracted by all the good things of this world that we stop searching by giving up Mass, the sacraments, and prayer. When we give up those practices, sloth will fill the void and lead to other sins.

Bosch reminds us where sloth ultimately leads us

Disclaimer — sloth is not the same as leisure. We do need time for leisure; a break from work. Often, leisure can lead to increased spirituality because it refreshes and energizes us. Refreshing leisure activities include reading, listening to music, and spending time with people. It’s not binge-watching Netflix alone until 3 AM. Leisure compliments a spiritual life, sloth replaces it.

Avoid These Pitfalls During Advent to Practice Humility

Stay Humble

Let’s take a break from current events and return to a more classic RosaryMeds post — an actual Rosary meditation. As we enter Advent and the Christmas season, I want to give some of my ideas of the First Joyful Mystery and its fruit, humility.

In the Annunciation, Mary’s humility is exemplified in her response to the angel Gabriel when she said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). She showed a joyful willingness to submit to God’s will and a trust in God’s plan for her life. She accepted the role that God had given her despite the radical changes and challenges it would bring. In short, she placed God’s will before her wants and desires.

Buying for Ourselves During Christmas

Placing God before our wants and desires can be challenging during Advent. That is why it’s important to be aware of the temptations that draw us away from behaving humbly. We are bombarded with advertisements to shop until we drop. Even when we shop for others, it’s hard to curb that desire to buy things for ourselves or at least desire them. We may obsess over receiving a certain gift and fixate on how we’re going to hint to our loved ones to buy it. There’s nothing wrong with wanting nice things and maybe splurging occasionally. But those desires can make it harder to practice humility when we place our desires ahead of others’ needs.

Christmas shopping can weigh us down and not leave room for others in our life.

I think back to last Sunday’s Gospel where Jesus tells his disciples about the sheep and the goats. The theme of his teaching is that those who serve Jesus are the ones who serve others, particularly those in most need. We honor Jesus when we put the needs of others before our wants. But that is hard to accomplish when we are bombarded with ads everywhere we turn. Advent can easily turn into a season where we serve ourselves, not others, and especially not God.

Trying to Create that “Perfect” Christmas

There are other mindsets that make humility hard to practice during Advent and Christmas. We may truly embrace the idea of “giving” during the season. But is that goal preventing us from acting with true humility? Are we putting our desire to find the perfect present, throw the perfect party, and produce the perfect Christmas ahead of being truly present in other’s lives? Are we praying for one another? Fasting and sacrificing? Maybe we can think of the perfect Christmas as the one where we put others’ spiritual needs ahead of satisfying their seasonal desires.

Christmas doesn’t have to look like a Norman Rockwell painting to be perfect

Praying only for Yourself

Finally, reflect on your humility in prayer and intentions. I so often fall into the mode where I pray only for myself. I focus solely on my challenges, desires, sorrows, and thanksgiving. That’s not exactly showing humility when our well-being is the sole focus of our prayers. It also creates a form of isolation because we don’t look past ourselves. Humility implies a sense of connection with others. After all, how can we put others ahead of ourselves if we don’t acknowledge others in our lives?

There you have it — three different challenges to practicing the virtue of humility during Advent and Christmas. I think it’s important to be aware of these traps so we can actively work on avoiding them. Naturally, asking for Mary’s intervention in these matters through her Rosary and the First Joyful Mystery is a good place to start.

Skipping Mass Makes Life Harder

The Empty Pew Pandemic

Within the last week, I came across these articles about changing church attendance patterns and religious practices. These articles sadden me greatly because so many people have made their lives sadder and harder because they’ve de-prioritized practicing their faith. We need to learn from Mary and the saints’ examples that our lives will ultimately be happier and easy when we chose to serve God.

A person might be entering mid-career, working a high-stress job requiring a 60- or 70-hour workweek. Add to that 15 hours of commute time, and suddenly something like two-thirds of their waking hours in the week are already accounted for. And so when a friend invites them to a Sunday-morning brunch, they probably want to go to church, but they also want to see that friend, because they haven’t been able to see them for months. The friend wins out.
The Misunderstood Reason Millions of Americans Stopped Going to Church

What these articles touch on and what I see in my own life, is a spiritual “quiet quit.” Most people I know who are former Sunday Mass regulars don’t have anything against the Catholic Church. But they started watching live-streamed Masses during Covid. They then skipped a Sunday, and then another, and then another. Since God didn’t smite them and no one asked them to return, their new normal was to be a “Christmas and Easter” Catholic.

“It’s not like they are walking away, saying, ‘I’m now an atheist and don’t believe,’” he says. “They still believe in a God and live life with purpose but are done with the institutional church.”
Why Middle-Aged Americans Aren’t Going Back to Church

Skipping Mass Makes Life Harder

I’ve said this countless times before, skipping Mass and not praying daily makes your day harder, not easier. The articles talk about how people can’t fit in Mass between all the priorities in their lives whether they be work, family, health, or various hobbies. But in skipping Mass, you distance yourself from the source that makes all those priorities and challenges in your life manageable.

Of all the priorities in your life, the last one you want to scale back on is your relationship with God. He’s the one that enables you to move forward and find true happiness and understanding in all that you do. Trouble at work? God can help you. Trouble at home? God can help. Problem with your kids? God can help. No task or challenge is too big for an all-powerful, all-patient, and all-loving God. But we need to form an active relationship with Him through the Church to receive His grace. He wants to help us, but we need to be open to that help.

Many people may ask, “I do believe in God, but I don’t need to attend Mass every week or pray rote prayers to form a relationship with him.” That seems to be the position of many Catholics since the Mass closures during Covid. They stopped going to Mass and their world did not come to a fiery end. But missing Mass is like giving up a healthy diet and exercise in favor of junk food and binge-watching Netflix. Sure, you may be alive and superficially entertained, but you’ve set yourself up for disaster later on in life. We need the Mass because it fills something profound in our souls that nothing else can.

Mary’s Example

Let’s go back to the Annunciation from the First Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. Now Mary had a healthy relationship with God. But God asked her for more… a lot more! Becoming the Mother of God was disruptive, to say the least. But Mary understood the importance of serving God even if it was going to cause hardship and sorrow at specific points in her life. We need to imitate Mary and choose God over worldly comforts and conveniences. God wants us at Mass, not because he needs the praise, but because we need God. It may seem like God asks a lot of us and following him may cause sorrow. But like Mary, we need to understand that those temporary hardships pave the way for profound and meaningful joy.

There are no saints that God didn’t help when they faced their various challenges in life. But when coming to a crossroads, saints choose God over worldly comforts. God calls all of us to sainthood which leads to eternal happiness with Him in Heaven. Satan wants us to choose the seemingly easy life by giving up Mass occasionally knowing that it will lead us further away from God and happiness in this life and maybe the next. The wise, saintly person will choose the road that leads to God knowing that ultimately, his “yoke is easy and burden light” (Mathew 11:30).

The Importance of a Purposeful Life

An Alien World

Over my vacation, I read the science fiction novel, Return from the Stars, by Polish author Stanislaw Lem. This was the second time I read the novel. When I read it 20 years ago, it didn’t connect with me. However, now I see many parallels with the direction our society is headed with the one depicted in the novel. I think this book is worth exploring through the lens of faith.

Return from the Stars echoes many themes explored in Adulous Huxley’s Brave New World or the movie Logan’s Run. Lem tells the story of an astronaut, Hal Bragg, returning from an intergalactic space mission having only aged 10 years while 127 years passed on Earth. His experiences on this new Earth are like stepping onto an alien planet. Society has completely changed because people live without crime and fear due to a procedure everyone receives at birth which removes humanity’s tendency towards aggression. Robots handle all the dangerous work leaving humans to spend their lives pursuing leisurely activities.

The Tragedy of Comfort

It may seem like a utopia to live in a world without injury, crime, and fear. If you don’t know of any other way of life, a world of war, crime, and toil would seem downright barbaric. However, what type of life is it where your sole purpose is to exist and consume? There is nothing to achieve or fight for. That drive towards improvement via challenging yourself no longer exists. In the novel, this world drives astronaut Hal Bragg to the edge of insanity as he declares, “They’ve killed the man in man!”

We are starting to see the development of such a society depicted in the novel. It’s one bathed in the glowing screens of smartphones. One can spend his whole life watching TikTok videos and streaming Netflix, ordering everything online at the click of a button, and no one daring to tell him, “You should be doing more with your life.” As Hal realizes almost immediately, it’s a life without purpose. Humanity has regressed, not progressed. We are little more than packs of animals dressed up in the comforts technological advances bring.

Return from the Stars stays mostly in the sociological changes to society. It avoids explicitly exploring the political and religious structure of such a society. But I think Lem leads the reader to a similar conclusion that Hal discovers — such a world creates a shallow and meaningless life. Ironically, it is through our hardships and toil that we forge strong connections with each other and God.

Why We Need to Toil

Our lives need to include that spirit of adventure, danger, and toil. There needs to be a sense that we are working towards something. Specifically, we need to have that drive to always be working towards living in God’s grace and eventually spending eternity with Him in Heaven. And that requires hard work and taking risks to achieve something more than what we currently have. It means being thankful for what we have, but knowing that it’s incomplete.

Hal laments that humanity lost the will to explore the stars to instead bask in the immediate comforts technology and science brought them. I think the same sentiment can be said for faith. We lose that sense of urgency to practice our faith in an easy, “safe” world. Why is it, after a huge disaster like the 911 attacks, churches were full to the brim the following weeks? I think, when our sense of comfort is disrupted, we evaluate what is truly important and invest in it. Unfortunately, the last major world event, the Covid pandemic, made it even easier to seek comfort rather than seek God.

Seeking God through the Rosary

Mediate on the Fifth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary — The Finding of Jesus in the Temple. Picture Mary and Joseph looking for Jesus after they learned he was missing. They searched for three days in sorrow. Imagine the sense of urgency and determination they must have had looking for their lost child. Everything else took a back seat to find Jesus. Their search required dealing with fear, sorrowful, and hardship. But in the end, their persistence was rewarded when they found Jesus in the temple.

We too should show that same level of focus and determination to find Jesus in our lives. I’m not saying that you neglect other responsibilities such as work, family, and community for your faith. But we can’t become so comfortable that we lose the willpower to serve and honor God. We always need to remember that we have a mission and it’s not to watch Netflix and Disney+ (which I recommend you boycott on principle). To be fully human, we need to strive for something greater than what we have. We need to strive to deepen our love for God and our faith.

How to Combat Pride in Our Daily Lives

The New Normal

My wife and I discussed what concerns us most about the direction our world is heading in. We talked about the transgender movement, wokism, socialism, radical climate change activists, pro-abortion, war hawks, etc. These movements all scare me and are doing tremendous harm to our world and the youth. But these movements are not what concern me the most. It’s something more insidious that we see all around us — self-centeredness.

When I drove to the store the other day I witnessed the following:

A driver passed me on a residential neighborhood road and blew through a stop sign.
Someone swinging out of their inner lane on a two-lane left-hand turn.
Someone cutting in line at a store that clearly had people waiting in it.
Someone walking down the middle of a parking lot oblivious to the cars inching behind him.
Someone crossing the street against a “Do Not Walk” signal
People leaving a table full of trash at a fast food restaurant
A cyclist peddling in the middle of the road against traffic

The list could go on and on about all these little things I witness on a daily basis. I know this behavior has always existed. In fact, I may be guilty of them occasionally. However, I feel like they are no longer the exception but are just normal, excepted behavior. And this behavior is what concerns me because it lays the foundation for all these other damaging movements.

Selfishness Drowns Out God

Many of these behaviors show how self-centered we have become as a society. So many people do what is most convenient for them regardless of the burden it puts on others. The unspoken social rules that people have lived by have fallen by the wayside. These social rules and laws are the glue that keeps society together. Without them, society starts to come apart which I believe we’re seeing before our eyes. As I’ve written about in previous posts, we are so much more anxious and unhinged now.

This self-centeredness is a form of the sin of pride. It’s hard to honor God in your life if you don’t see that you are part of something larger than yourself. Consider the Gospel of Matthew where in a parable people ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you?” Jesus responded, “Whatever you did for the one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:37-38) When we live only for our own desires and comfort, we are neglecting Jesus’ mission for us to serve each other.

The Rosary to the Rescue

The fruit of the Second Joyful Mystery is love of neighbor. I think this is the perfect Rosary mystery to combat this self-centered culture. This mystery professes that we first need to acknowledge that we have neighbors. A neighbor in this case is more than just the person who occupies a dwelling close to yours. Our neighbors are our coworkers, schoolmates, that random driver next to you at the stop light, the person standing next to you at the store, and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus didn’t limit neighbors to just those in his immediate proximity. He included everyone throughout time and place to be his neighbors.

Loving your neighbor requires effort. Mary put in the effort to travel to her cousin Elizabeth’s village. She made an effort to help her cousin through her pregnancy despite being pregnant herself. Similarly, we must put in the effort to love our neighbor. One great way is showing patience towards one another. Living in society requires us to be patient and follow the rules and conventions even when they aren’t the most convenient. God does not call us to a life of convenience. He calls us to a life of service towards one another.

We may look at the world and think that the ills of society are too big for one person to solve or that praying the Rosary won’t have much effect. But I’m reminded of a story about Saint Francis where someone asked him how he could make the world a better place. Saint Francis replied, “You start by closing the door softly.” We can all do small things to make the world around us better. Follow laws and social conventions, be patient, be humble, and clean up after yourself. We’ll never be able to tackle large, global problems if we don’t first tackle problems in our own hearts and minds.

The Power and Beauty of Reverence

Starting Out Right

I often tell my boys that getting into the right mindset in the morning is crucial for a successful day at school, home, and activities. It starts with a good night’s sleep, eating a healthy breakfast, making sure their uniforms are in good shape and are worn neatly, etc. Starting the day organized, polite, and presentable goes a long way in living a successful day. The day goes so much smoother than one when they oversleep, are disorganized, chaotic, and aren’t prioritizing getting ready for the day.

I think the same goes for how people approach the holy Mass. Are you adequately prepared to fully participate in the Mass in reverent prayer? Or are you scrambling out the door only to arrive 10 minutes late, sit in the back, and stare at the wood beams of the church?

The Power of Reverence

Fr. Michael Rennier wrote this article on the Catholic Exchange on the beauty and power of a reverent Mass experience.

He points out that Mass doesn’t need to be solemn and silent to be reverent. Family Masses with small kids aren’t usually quiet. But reverence isn’t about the volume level. You can have a quiet church and still have an irreverent Mass. Being late, chatting with your neighbor in the pews, not listening to the priest, leaving early, and not participating in the Mass really aren’t showing reverence to God.

I’ve had conversations with people who attend Mass occasionally because they said they just don’t find the priest’s homily interesting. This again misses the point of a reverent Mass. It’s not a show or lecture. As Fr. Rennier says, a reverent Mass makes room for the sacred. It’s knowing that something very important and special occurs in that hour that does not happen in the other 167 hours of the week.

Reverence in the Rosary

When you pray the Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary, picture Simeon in the temple holding the baby Jesus. Imagine the reverence Simeon must have shown after waiting and praying for so many years before seeing God’s Chosen One. His entire life built up to that one miraculous moment. He prepared for that moment through prayer and a constant connection to God by being physically present at the temple.

We need to imitate Simeon if we want a reverent Mass. That means being physically present at Mass. It’s time for parishes to disconnect those webcams and insist on people’s presence. The various parts of the Mass prepare us for the ultimate culmination of our faith — the Eucharist. That means we need to be mentally and spiritually present at Mass; listening, praying, and participating. Simeon prepared himself to encounter the baby Jesus. Similarly, we need to prepare ourselves to accept Jesus in the Eucharist.

Benefits of Reverence

A reverent Mass experience will help you connect with God on a deeper level, grow in faith, increase your sense of hope, find peace, and feel connected to other Catholics in the universal Church. Showing reverence is not always easy and takes effort. But God will fill you with spiritual goodness beyond anything the world can offer when you make room for Him through reverence.